Self-reported sleep quality in patients undergoing voluntary termination of pregnancy

OBJECTIVE: To investigate if the sleep pattern (SP) of women undergo- ing voluntary interruption of pregnancy is affected by the method of termina- tion of pregnancy (VToP, medical or surgical). DESIGN: This prospective study, performed between August 2012 and April 2013, included women referred to our University hospital for VToP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients within 49 days of amenorrhea underwent medical interruption of pregnancy (group M) while those with amenorrhea comprised between 49 and 90 days underwent the surgical termi- nation of pregnancy (group S). Sleep quality, insomnia and excessive day- time sleepiness were assessed using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), Insomnia severity index (ISI) and the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), respectively. Patients were evaluated at baseline, at 1-month and 3- month after the VToP. RESULTS: Of the 203 consecutive women approached for the study, 132 accepted to participate, yielding a response rate of 65.0%. Fifty-three women (40.2%) underwent medical VToP and 79 women underwent surgical VToP. At baseline, no difference was observed between group M and S in the prev- alence of poor sleep quality (group M: 60.4%, group S: 58.2%; p1⁄40.948), of clinically relevant insomnia was (group M: 3.8%, group S: 6.3%; p1⁄40.806) and of excessive daytime sleepiness (group M: 13.3%, group S: 13.9%; p1⁄40.888). 1-month after VToP, there was non-significant amelioration of PSQI, ISI and ESS in both groups. At 3-month, there was a significant improvement of the three questionnaires in both groups compared with base- line. Patients who underwent VToP, either medical or surgical for the first time showed baseline scores significantly worse than those who previously underwent VToP. CONCLUSION: In women undergoing voluntary termination of preg- nancy, the sleep quality is not influenced by the interruption technique. Sleep quality of patients who undergo termination of pregnancy for the first time is significantly worse compared with those who previously underwent termina- tion of pregnancy.